INTX Spring Technical Forum Call for Papers is Open!
It isn’t really INTX season until the Spring Technical Forum call for papers begins. The Spring Technical Forum at INTX is the annual high-profile technology event presented by NCTA, CableLabs, and SCTE. It connects industry CTOs, developers, and scientists with leading industry technology ideas. It’s a scientific journal that serves as the industry’s record of breakthrough advances in technology and collection of new, problem solving ideas that define our industry. Authors whose submissions are accepted for publication will be invited to speak at this year’s Forum, happening at INTX in Boston
What Apps Mean for Your Television Experience
Where’s the remote? What’s on TV tonight? Is it my turn to pick what we watch? It’s such a nice night – why can’t I watch the game out on the porch? These were the questions we’d been asking each other for decades. And then seemingly overnight we all stopped. Why? Because the remote is now your smartphone. And because you know what’s on TV when you can watch pretty much watch anything on demand. And because you never have to take turns picking what to watch when every device in the house works as a TV. And because you can watch the game on the porch thanks to Wi-Fi. All of this is because of
Valuing the Voices of Experts
Change is easier, and often more effective, when it’s done with you rather than to you. Many times in the past, education reform has come from the top down, without teachers having a voice. We’ll never get “future ready” schools without the active involvement of educators in all aspects of the process. At Cable Impacts Foundation, when we embarked on the project to create “Building Your Roadmap for 21st Century Learning Environments,” a tool education leaders could use to map out and manage transforming their schools into technology-rich hubs of personalized digital learning and 21st century
Wait, What? People Still Like Watching TV the Traditional Way?
Want a Halloween scare? Get this: In a time when you can watch your favorite scary movies on pretty much any device with a screen, a recent report shows that–gasp–people still tune into TV the old-fashioned way. Ok, so maybe this isn’t as much a spook as it is a surprise for some people, but come to think of it, I would definitely choose watching Paranormal Activity this weekend huddled around my television set accompanied by friends and a bowl of popcorn. That over streaming it on my tablet in the dark all by myself! Findings by Pivotal Research Group reveal that TV viewership is stable and
Cybersecurity Awareness Month a Nod to Everyone's Role in a Safe Internet
As National Cybersecurity Awareness Month comes to a close, we wanted to reflect on some of the more significant cybersecurity accomplishments of the cable industry both during this month and in general. As the nation’s leading provider of broadband, cable companies have been at the forefront of developing and implementing best practices for identifying and addressing cybersecurity risks. The nature of networks makes cybersecurity a problem that spans the globe. From startups to the Internet’s largest corporations, ensuring products and services are secure is a shared responsibility. Towards
Multi-Gig Broadband Over Existing Networks? Absolutely!
In demonstrations this past September, CableLabs, the cable industry’s non-profit research and development organization, showed how existing networks are capable of downstream speeds of 4.6 Gbps and upstream speeds of 800 Mbps. So to the question, “Can cable networks scale and compete with next-gen fiber networks?” the answer is a resounding YES. And it’s being done through the use of the DOCSIS 3.1 technology platform (also known under its friendlier name, Gigasphere). The DOCSIS 3.1 technology can deliver multi-gig speeds over existing broadband networks. The CableLabs demonstration wasn’t
Energy Management Standards in the Works for Cable Operators
We’ve all benefited from the great speed of today’s technological advancements. Television, phones, tablets and the Internet of Things have given us security, convenience and connectivity to our everyday necessities–from getting in touch with someone instantly to receiving and watching the latest news to enjoying smart homes. But a lot rides on how much energy these essentials and networks burn up. To reduce the environmental impact and the costs that come with power consumption, steps are being taken throughout the industry to conserve energy and to address energy holistically by spreading
Celebrating "The Language of America"
Can you imagine a world without free speech? While many Americans are proud of their First Amendment, it’s a safe bet that many of us take for granted the free speech that constitutional Amendment ensures. Imagine a world in which authors, bloggers, script writers, producers, directors, poets, songwriters, and other creators of content had to censor the expression of their thoughts, or could be held liable by some governing body for thinking that might be inconsistent with that of the governing class. Imagine the potential impact of speech censorship on your own behavior, each time you
Happy Back to the Future Day! We May Not Have Hoverboards, But We've Got Really Fast Internet
It’s Back to the Future Day! In Back to the Future Part II, our hero Marty McFly transports to the future – specifically to October 21st, 2015 – to save his children and stop his nemesis Biff Tannen from permanently disrupting the space-time continuum. This after he saved his parents and thus himself in Back to the Future Part I by going back in time to 1955 and basically inventing rock and roll. Shudder to think what would happen if Marty McFly had never been born or even worse, if Biff Tannen were allowed to profit off of an out-of-time sports almanac. Like all science fiction, part of the
How CISA Can Help Protect Personal Data, Internet Infrastructure, and Businesses
After months of discussion and hard work, the Senate appears set to move forward this week with the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (commonly known as CISA). As a member of the Protecting America’s Cyber Networks Coalition, we were proud to sign and submit a letter yesterday supporting CISA and committing ourselves to working with lawmakers to get cybersecurity information-sharing legislation quickly enacted. You can read that letter here. For more on the specifics of CISA and where NCTA stands on this bill, we refer you to the blog we wrote a few months ago. But in short, CISA